Begin, Says Vance Talks Were Excellent

Premier Menachem Begin told the Cabinet today that the two days of talks with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance could be regarded as a political success for Israel’s approach to the resumption of Middle East peace talks. The Premier reaffirmed that the talks had been excellent and devoid of any element of confrontation. Shmuel Katz, Begin’s press secretary, said that while the talks had not created a breakthrough they had provided an opening. “A window has opened and a crack is discernable,” he noted.

Vance, who ended his two days of talks with Israeli officials yesterday, left today to visit Amman, Damascus and Alexandria. Tonight he was scheduled to fly to London for a brief stopover before returning to Washington. There were no farewell statements by either Vance or Israelis as the Secretary departed from Ben Gurion Airport. He was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Ambassadors Samuel Lewis, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Simcha Dinitz Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., and their wives.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reported today that Herman Eilts, the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, recently met in Cairo with a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization to discuss a way for the PLO to accept United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Lewis, who was asked about this by reporters, said “I would be very much surprised if the story is true.” According to reports from Amman, Undersecretary of State Philip Habib said the story was entirely wrong. “No such meeting has taken place anytime or anywhere,” Habib was quoted as saying.

Most Israeli papers applauded the government’s insistence on rejecting proposals to have the PLO participate in Geneva talks and criticized reported American overtures to that organization.